ZTA wins award

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) won two awards at the Beijing 8th International Travel Expo casting a ray of hope on the tourism authorityâ€™s 2015 target of luring 50 000 Chinese tourists.

ZTA Chief Executive, Mr. Karikoga Kaseke announced the achievement by a team of ladies from the tourism authority saying out of the 103 countries that exhibited at the Beijing International Travel Expo (BITE) Zimbabwe was voted the best organised booth and the best team organisation.

The development means that China will for the next years be marketing Zimbabwe as the best destination, a development that casts hope on ZTAâ€™s target of luring 50 000 Chinese tourists by 2015.

Asked why setting such a target on the Chinese who are believed to be low spenders, Kaseke refuted the allegations saying the Chinese are amongst the top three spenders according to a tourism report as their average expenditure per person per trip is a US$1 058 compared to the likes of UK tourists who have an average of US$893 per person per trip.

Zimbabwe currently hosts 20 000 Chinese tourists and these do not include Chinese investors.

Tourism contributes a significant percentage to the countryâ€™s gross domestic product and is a key sector towards the recovery of the local economy.